


Nocturnal Creatures

by Anonymous



Category: Smosh
Genre: Batman AU, F/M, i know it says major character death but spoiler alert i promise it doesnt last, mystery/noir kinda vibes i guess, theres some violence but its not gonna be really bloody
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23028109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: I WILL NOT BE COMPLETING THIS FICGotham is the most dangerous city in the whole of America. The police have become unable to deal with the high level of crime in every street. Only one man is able to save the city - the Batman, aka Joshua Ovenshire, playboy billionaire and CEO of Ovenshire Enterprises. With the help of Katherine Bow, his girlfriend and notorious thief-turned-hero, they take down the criminals and keep Gotham safe.After a brief period of calm, the villains and criminals in the city strike back in a big way. The duo has dealt with many of these rivals before, but a new enemy has emerged, and they're proving to be more dangerous than anyone they've ever encountered before. Meanwhile, Joven is struggling with enemies of his own, except these ones live inside his head.
Relationships: Katherine Bow/Joshua Ovenshire
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Ovenshire Manor

**Author's Note:**

> Look who's back to writing long-form fics! It me! I'm combining two of my favourite things - Batman and Smosh - and I hope you're as excited to see where this goes as I am to write it!

Some people doubted Kate's skills. They considered her to be a petty thief, nothing more. But Kate saw herself as much more than that. She wasn't just a thief, she was an actress, and a cat burglar was just one of her many roles. Not tonight, though. Tonight she would play the role of a lifetime - girlfriend to Gotham's most notorious playboy billionaire: Joshua Ovenshire.

The event tonight gave Kate an opportunity to be glamorous, something that she rarely got to do. Nevertheless, she had to be careful what she wore. Being close to Joven would be dangerous, so she made sure she was prepared in case she had to fight or flee. Every inch of her body was covered by a thought. Her hair was twisted into a tight bun atop her head, so that an opponent couldn’t grab it and leave her neck exposed. The silk gloves that she slipped over her hands concealed steel plates that protected her knuckles, and gave her a vicious punch. Flat shoes, in case she had to run. She wasn’t getting caught out tonight.

Kate wandered through the endless hallways of Ovenshire Manor, drifting through the house like a meandering river making its way to the sea. She traced her fingertips along the tops of the antique cabinets that were scattered in almost every room. A quick glance around her. Nobody there. Slowly, she pulled open a drawer to one of the cabinets, fishing around blindly as she kept her eyes on her surroundings.

Her fingers grasped at some beads. She lifted them out of the drawer and held them aloft. Not just beads. Pearls. Real ones, by the look of them. For a moment, Kate just wanted to look at them, holding them up so that the moonlight reflected off the necklace.

The window behind her slammed open, the whistling wind sending a chill down her neck. She shoved the pearls down the front of her dress, before turning around. Joven crouched on the windowsill, dressed like a Giant. Fucking. Bat.

At least, he insisted it was a bat, although Kate could think of several things his black armour looked more like. A squirrel, for example, or perhaps a Doberman dog. Or an idiot. Yeah, that was probably it.

"Did you forget your key or something?" Kate asked with a wry smile.

"It's my house, I can come in wherever I want." Joven pulled off his cowl with a grunt, throwing it to the floor when he managed to prise it off his face. "Besides," he added, wiping sweat from his brow, "Don't think I've forgotten all the times you've come in through the window."

Kate blushed. "That's different. I was trying to steal from you."

"Hmph." Joven folded his arms, raising an eyebrow at Kate. "Stealing. You've definitely not done that recently, have you?"

He looked down at the front of her dress. Sighing, Kate reached down her chest and pulled out the string of pearls, handing them to Joven as an admission of defeat. He snatched them from her playfully, although Kate could tell there was a hint of annoyance to his actions. Nevertheless, he didn't bring it up further, instead heading to his dressing room to get into his outfit for the evening.

Kate padded along quietly behind him. Joven entered the room, whilst she hovered awkwardly outside, peeking through the doorway. Waving his hand towards him, Joven beckoned her in. "Can't have you stealing anything else. Come in." Kate's cheeks flushed pink, as she shuffled over to the sofa, seating herself amongst velvet cushions.

Joven rummaged amongst his closet, occasionally throwing an article of clothing behind him, forming a large pile. Soon, he had enough clothes to form two compete outfits. He held one in each hand, looking to Kate for guidance. "Tan suit or blue suit?"

"Tan." Kate pointed to the suit in his left hand. "Damien's gonna wear blue, and you don't wanna upstage the guest of honour, do you?"

Nodding, Joven placed the blue suit back in the closet, before disappearing behind a curtain with the tan outfit. He emerged a few minutes later, fully dressed aside from the tie that he held in his hands defeatedly. "Can you…?"

Before he could finish, Kate had already arisen from her seat, and was fastening the tie around his neck. Pulling on the tie, she moved Joven's face down to hers, planting a firm kiss on his lips. She felt the corners of his lips turn up under hers, and she smiled too. They were both still smiling when they pulled away, and both of them were wearing Kate's favourite shade of lipstick. Joven still smiled when he wiped it off his mouth with the handkerchief in his suit pocket, which he'd originally thought was just there for aesthetic purposes. "Are we ready to go?"

Kate hesitated. "Are you sure this is safe, Joven?" Her smile dropped suddenly, every worry she'd had about this event flooding back, no longer masked by her excitement to wear a fancy dress. "With you and Damien in the same room, someone might target you-"

"Relax." Joven placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing circles in her skin with his thumb. "With Lasercorn gone, the crime rate has completely dropped. They don't know what to do with themselves now there's nobody to tell them what to do."

Kate let out a shaky breath. "As long as you're sure."

Joven nodded. "I'm sure." He extended a hand for Kate to take. "Walk with me?"

She slipped her hand into his, gripping it tightly. "Let's go." They moved together through the winding hallways, silently, but each enjoying the other's company and warmth. A great oak door loomed before them, carved with the faces of Joven's ancestors.

Unhooking his hand from hers, Joven clapped twice, and the grand doors were pulled open. They were met with the stares of a hundred people and a thousand camera lenses that blasted them with flashing lights as soon as they were spotted.

Joven squeezed Kate's arm in reassurance, and murmured softly to her "Time to go join the party," as they stepped into the ballroom.


	2. The Ballroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joven and Kate attend a publicity event for Damien Haas' political campaign. Whilst Joven feels at home amongst the high society of Gotham, Kate can't help but feel out of place. That is, until she gets an opportunity to prove herself, outside of her partner's shadow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, there is mention of a major character death in this chapter! But like I've already said in my tags *spoiler* it doesn't last. Not really, anyway. You'll see.

Damien wore the blue suit, as Kate had predicted. He stood at the top of the ornate staircase that swirled into the ballroom, holding a champagne flute loosely between his fingers. Whilst he may have seemed entirely engrossed in his conversation with the guests, it only took him a second to locate Joven in the crowd. He tapped on the side of his glass with a fingernail, creating a shrill ringing sound that hushed the many conversations in the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said with a smirk, "It would appear that our kind, gracious, but certainly not punctual host has arrived! Everyone welcome Mr Ovenshire!" Applause rippled throughout the room, as well as soft murmurs about the woman on his arm. "Care to tell us why you are so late?"

Joven looked down, to avoid all the eyes that were now fixated on him. "I wanted to make an entrance?"

"Hmmm." Damien took a sip of champagne. "Well you certainly did that." A few moments of silence that seemed to drag on forever. Was he angry at him? The crowd muttered quietly, probably wondering the same thing. He downed the rest of his drink, before stretching his mouth into a wide grin. "Enjoy the rest of the night, folks!"

Handing his glass to a passing waiter, Damien bounded down the stairs towards Joven and Kate with outstretched arms. They both hugged him tightly, but Joven hugged him tighter, as he had known him longer - since they were children. Kate had only met him recently, at the same time she had met Joven, but she still considered him a close friend. In fact, he was one of her closest. 

After a moment, they parted, but Damien kept his hand in Joven's shoulder. "Thank you."

"For what?"

He gestured to the room around him. "For allowing me to use your lovely house for my function. You know, I think this could be the push that I need to finally get elected as mayor." 

“It’s nothing, honestly.” Joven motioned to a server as he walked past, taking three glasses of red wine - one for himself, one for Kate and one for Damien. “I’m happy to support your campaign in any way that i can. Plus, any excuse for a party, am I right?”

Joven handed a glass to Damien, before turning to Kate. She was already walking away, immersing herself in the crowd, sliding her hands into people’s pockets, and pulling out wallets, jewels and pocket watches, among other things. He sighed. It was like she’d always told him -  _ you can take the girl out of Gotham, but you can never take Gotham out of the girl. _

Damien had finished off another drink. Joven had never thought him to be much of a drinker, never even seen him touch alcohol before this evening.  _ Must have been a stressful day _ . “Do you mind introducing me to the ‘high society’ of Gotham? I could really use their votes, and with you being you I thought…”

“Of course!” Damien hadn’t even finished his sentence before Joven was waving over a man, dressed sharply in a crisp suit. “Damien Haas, meet Matthew Sohinki, CEO of Ovenshire Enterprises and nothing short of a technical genius. Sohinki, meet Damien, mayoral candidate and close friend.”

Kate watched this exchange from across the room, her hands full of stolen goods. She felt like a fraud, the only criminal in a room of genuinely good people. Everyone was so much more than they could ever admit. Joven was a billionaire, but he was also a vigilante. Sohinki didn’t just run Ovenshire Enterprises, but the entire Batman operation. And Damien… well, she should know plenty about Damien by now, but still she felt like he was hiding something. But Kate wasn’t. Everyone saw Kate the same way she saw herself. A thief. 

_ Crash _ . All the jewelry and money she had pickpocketed tumbled to the floor, landing in a pile at her feet. As rings, bracelets, and the like disappeared under tables and scattered throughout the room, Kate disappeared too. She pulled open the heavy oak door and was met by a blast of harsh February air that stung her face and her bare arms.

It wasn't just guilt that forced her out into the frost, although that had been on her mind for weeks now. It was fear too. Joven had so easily brushed off her worries when they had spoken in his dressing room, but her stomach still twisted. The two most high profile people in Gotham were in that room - Joven and Damien - not to mention the hundreds of socialites, businessmen and millionaires that joined them. Could there be a more perfect target?

The crime rate in Gotham had gone down recently, since the death of Lasercorn. He had been a thorn in both Kate and Joven's sides for about as long as she could remember, more so than any other criminal they'd ever encountered. Most people wanted something, like money or revenge. Those sorts of people could be reasoned with. Lasercorn could not.

His crimes were numerous. Worse than that, they were unpredictable. The first time they'd met, he'd put a bomb in an orphanage, and that was only the tip of the iceberg as far as his sick schemes were concerned. Doctors poisoned, teachers stabbed, parents slaughtered, all with their mouth stretched into an uncanny grin - Lasercorn's trademark.

But now he was the dead one. The police took care of that. Joven had so many opportunities to be rid of him for good, but he would never kill anyone. No, that was a job best left to the cops. Sure, they weren't supposed to kill him either, but the old commissioner was rather trigger-happy. They had to fire him, of course, but nobody argued that they weren't relieved now Lasercorn was off the streets.

Not that that eased Kate's nerves at all. Well, it had done, for a while. The power struggle that everyone expected didn't happen. That meant that it still could, any day now.

The faint rumble of music and chatter from inside was interrupted by the ringing of a phone. Kate's phone. She opened up the small bag that was hooked over her shoulder and pulled it out. The face of Joven's chief informant, Sarah Whittle, lit up the screen. From her base in Gotham's clock tower, she could access the surveillance cameras all over the city, letting him and Kate know of crimes before they even happened. She was practically an oracle when it came to information. In all honesty, Kate didn't particularly want to speak to Sarah in that moment in time, but she knew that nobody else would be able to subdue her paranoia.

"Oh thank God you picked up," Sarah said, followed by what sounded like a sigh of relief. "I called Joven, but he didn't answer!"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm your second choice? Sarah, I'm hurt!" She wasn't entirely joking, but it was hard to be mad at her. Her excitable personality was just too infectious.

"Sorry, Kate, but this really is urgent!" Sarah spoke quickly, her voice flustered. "Just got a message from the new commissioner - says he needs you and Joven down at the station ASAP!"

"Why? What's happening?"

Kate heard the clacking of a keyboard of the other end of the line. "It doesn't say. So are you and Joven able to-"

"Joven's busy right now." Kate cut off Sarah's words. She looked through the window at Joven, who was still talking to Damien and Sohinki in exactly the same place he had been before. He wouldn't notice if she went for a little bit. He might even appreciate a break from crime fighting. "I can go by myself."

"Are you sure? I mean we literally have no idea what he wants. What if he needs both of you there, but you're the only one who shows up?"

Kate held her phone between her ear and her shoulder, as she knelt down to remove the bottom section of her long gown, making it into a much shorter dress that was easier to run in. "Well, I suppose he's going to be disappointed then, isn't he?"

"Fair enough. I'll let him know you're on the way." More rapid typing sounds. The line cut out before she could say goodbye. 

She cast one last glance into the ballroom, and debated whether or not to tell Joven where she was going.  _ No _ , she decided, after much deliberation.  _ It's time for me to show off my own skills. _


	3. GCPD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate makes her way to the GCPD, and when she arrives, she discovers that an old foe has returned, and he's set his sights on Joven.

There are two ways to get to the GCPD from Ovenshire Manor.

The first is obvious - by walking through Gotham and strolling up to the front door. Simple, yet effective.

Kate didn't particularly want to take that approach. Although she'd grown up on the streets, she had never felt particularly safe there. Whilst the big name criminals may have been quiet for a while, there were still common thieves and thugs lurking in alleyways and doorways. She could probably beat them in a fight, if she had to, but she'd rather not take that risk.

The second way was more enjoyable anyway. Kate slipped her gloves off her hands, discarding them on the path beside her. She felt along the bricks that made up Ovenshire Manor, searching for places where the cement had eroded away over the years. It didn't take long - it was a very old building, after all.

She wedged her fingers in the space between the bricks. It used to hurt, when she was young, but now she'd been climbing for so long that the skin on her fingertips had hardened and she barely felt a thing. Tensing the muscles that ran along her shoulders and down her arms, Kate pulled herself up the wall, brick by brick, her elbows and knees getting scratched with every movement. She didn't care. She knew it would all be worth it when she reached the top. 

After only a couple of minutes, she felt cold slate beneath her hand. Bit by bit, she pushed herself up onto the roof, eventually getting her feet onto the tiles. A breeze blew the loose strands of hair away from her face as she stood up and looked down upon the city.

She always thought it was strange that Ovenshire Manor was in the middle of the city. Perhaps even slightly insulting to all of the people in the city who were struggling to make ends meet. Maybe that was why Joven always gave such generous donations to charity, or why he offered people more jobs than were needed, just to help them earn a living wage. It was clear he genuinely cared about the people in Gotham, and why wouldn't he? He was practically the face of the whole city, both in and out of the mask. 

Whether Ovenshire Manor's presence was insulting or reassuring, Kate had to admit that standing on its roof and looking at Gotham's skyline was a powerful experience, especially at night. They say Vegas is the city that never sleeps. Kate had never been to Vegas, but she couldn't see how it could possibly compare to Gotham. Even though it was overflowing with criminals and danger, the city had a certain buzz that was unlike anywhere else in the world.

Although she could have looked at the view all night, she had a job to do. Stepping back, she placed one foot in front of the other, putting all of her weight onto her back leg. With a push, she propelled herself onto the roof of the adjacent building. This repeated, over and over, across dozens of rooftops throughout the city, until the police station was in sight.

The GCPD was the only building in Gotham that could make Ovenshire Manor appear small. With so many crimes being committed daily, they needed a big place to keep the people responsible. 

Kate shimmied down the drainpipe of the store opposite the station, her feet crunching on gravel as she met the floor. The door was unguarded, which she always thought was odd considering the amount of criminals both inside and outside the walls. She walked into the building with ease. In fact, she walked through most of the corridors with ease too, not once being intercepted by a police officer as she made her way to the lockup.

It wasn't until she arrived at the lockup that she realised why she hadn't seen any of the police force on her way. They were all in there, crowded around one tiny computer, watching CCTV footage over and over again. She recognised all but one person - a man with a thick beard and furrowed brows as he stared intently at the screen.

"You must be the new commissioner," Kate offered a hand, which he shook, with a firm grasp.

"Just call me Matt Raub," he replied gruffly, his eyes still fixated on the computer. "I'm not interested in being formal."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "Not interested in being formal, and yet you ask me to use your full name? Alright."

Matt Raub ignored her remark, instead beckoning her to look at the CCTV footage. It was flickery, and the night vision cameras gave everything a greenish hue, but the silhouette was unmistakable. Who else in Gotham had long silver hair and wore a leather trenchcoat?

"Wes is back?" Kate's eyes widened. The last she'd seen of him, he'd been locked away for what she thought would be the foreseeable future. If he was around, death was sure to follow. 

She'd known Wes before he became villainous, when he was just a young doctor with a passion for medicine. He was dedicated to his craft. Too dedicated. With every small alteration, medicine became closer to poison, and Wes became closer to a maniac. 

Yet his toxins were worse than mere poison. They didn't kill people, although those who had been injected with it would probably prefer it if it did. Instead, it made its victims hallucinate their worst fears, right in front of them, in a cruel, neverending nightmare.

"Where's he going?" Matt Raub squinted at the screen, trying to see past the fizzling static that crackled across the screen. "Gotham has too many alleyways - they all look the same!"

"Not to me they don't. Let me see." Kate wrenched the mouse out of Matt Raub's hands. "Seriously, you guys don't label your cameras?" She zoomed in just after Wes had passed by the CCTV camera. It was easy to understand how Matt Raub thought that all the alleyways looked the same - after all, they were all full of shit and garbage - but the crumbling cement that left holes between the brickwork looked familiar. As did the gloves that had been discarded on the path.

"He's heading to Ovenshire Manor," Kate said, a feeling of sickness churning in her stomach. She grabbed the back of Matt Raub's chair with one hand, whilst placing the other on her forehead. 

"Don't panic, Kate." A young officer, Lieutenant Vasandani piped up from amongst the crowd. "Wes spreads his toxin by injecting it into people. How many people is he gonna be able to infect before he gets spotted? Chances are, your friends will be fine."

Kate wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, before turning towards the door. "I don't think I want to be relying on chance right now."


	4. A Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate had just learned about Wes' plans, but she is too late to stop them. Joven encounters another old nemesis who reminds him of his past mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, this is the chapter where the death stuff happens, but as I have said before, it doesn't last, because obviously I don't actually wanna kill anyone off, that's mean, but if you don't want to read about death then skip this chapter, I'll try and make it as easy as possible to understand the story without this if you don't want to read it. Its not gruesome in anyway but I'm aware people may not want to read it and that's fine!

Joven let out a laugh, the sort of deep, guttural laugh that comes from within a person's stomach. He couldn't remember what Damien had said, but he knew it was hilarious. At least, the copious amounts of champagne in his gut made it seem that way.

Sohinki laughed too, although he tried to keep talking. "Well," he said, his face going red, "I should probably get back to work." Joven and Damien would have made an attempt to make him stay, but they struggled to say anything through their giggles. 

Eventually, they were able to regain their composure, both breathing heavily to recover from their laughing fit. As they quietened down, so did the room, all the conversations coming to a natural lull. Damien shoved his champagne into Joven's free hand. "I think it's time I do a speech." He turned sharply on his heel, and staggered through the crowd. Joven looked on, a glass in each hand, as he stumbled up the stairs and turned to address his audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, his speech slurred. "Thank you all for coming to my house." He paused for a moment, scratching his head. "No, wait. It's not my house, is it? It's Josh's house! Thank you Josh!"

Joven seethed silently.  _ Call me Josh one more time-  _

"Now everyone, this isn't just an ordinary party. This is a political party!" Then, realising his accidental pun, he began to snicker. His audience was clearly very uncomfortable, turning to look at each other with raised eyebrows. 

"Anyway, where was I? Oh yes-" Damien, having finished laughing, attempted to conclude his speech, but was interrupted by a loud crash. Glass shattered behind him, as the ballroom's grand window was smashed. A metal canister landed at Damien's feet. 

"Don't touch that!" Joven yelled, but it was too late. Damien knelt down, and picked up the canister, holding it close to his face. A second later, thick, green gas began to seep out of the can. The guests screamed, but not as loud as Damien, who had just inhaled several breaths of the toxin.

"Get them off of me!" He yelled, lowering himself to the ground into a quaking ball of fear. The gas oozed closer and closer to the crowd, green tendrils snaking towards the people. 

"Okay, everyone! This way!" Joven gestured for the mass of people to follow him, as he ran towards the doors. He tugged on them, but they wouldn't budge. Others helped him pull, but still, they were stuck. The vapour had them cornered now, as more people succumbed to its effects. Some collapsed to the floor, as Damien had done, whilst others scratched at their own skin, and a few turned on each other, clawing and biting with inhuman malice.

Joven pushed the door with his shoulder, battering it over and over again, to no avail. "GodDAMNIT WES!" He grunted.  _ I should have listened to Kate. She knew it wouldn't be safe. _

He froze.  _ Kate.  _ Dashing into the crowd, he hunted for her, his eyes darting with frenzied panic. Each breath he took stung his throat and his chest, as the gas entered his lungs and poisoned his insides, but he couldn't stop looking.

A giggle. A voice. Kate's voice. "Joven," she called, from behind the doors, the ones that had been sealed shut this entire time. "Why don't you come out here with me?" As if by command, the doors swung open with an ominous creak.

_ It's a trap.  _ He knew that, really, but in the midst of all this chaos, Kate's voice sounded like an angelic chorus. Joven moved towards it, in an almost trance like state, until his feet crunched on the gravel that lined the streets of Gotham. 

"Now that we're alone, I thought it was time we had a chat." That wasn't Kate's voice, although he knew it just as well. "Hello, Jovenshire," Lasercorn said, stepping out of the shadows. "It's been a while."

Joven stepped back, raising his hands into fists in front of his face. "Lasercorn? You're alive?"

Lasercorn exploded into his telltale laughter, the sound of which had been imprinted into Joven's brain and given him nightmares for weeks. "Not quite." He thrust his hand into Joven's gut, but instead of making contact with his skin, it passed through like he wasn't even there. 

"Since I died, I've been living inside your head, just waiting to come out." He circled around him, his smile wide and malicious. "And now I've had a taste of that  _ delicious  _ fear toxin, I'm finally gaining some control over you!" Walking closer, he looked intently at Joven's face, as if he were studying it. "Yes, we'll make a fine villain of you yet."

"Never."

Lasercorn's face twisted into a sick mockery of a frown. "Never be a villain? Well that's odd. Because from where I'm standing, you're halfway there already." He bowed, and gestured down the street with a hand. "Let me show you what I mean."

Joven didn't move. Whether it was out of stubbornness or fear, he couldn't tell. Lasercorn rolled his eyes. "Always making things hard for me, aren't you?" He snapped his fingers, and the streets of Gotham melted away from around him. Instead of gravel, grass grew beneath his feet, and the city skyline was replaced with rolling hills. Lasercorn chuckled. "You know where you are, Bats?"

"Yes," Joven inhaled, breathing in the scent of the flowers that surrounded him. "This is Nepal. I trained here… with Ra." His voice became tinged with sadness then, and his eyes dropped to his feet.

"Right. Now here's the interesting thing." Lasercorn's mouth was stretched in a straight line, but his eyes glinted with mischief. "What happened to Ra? What's he up to these days? Still chilling in his Dojo?"

Joven wiped his nose with his sleeve. He didn't speak because he knew if he did he would start crying, and he wasn't going to give Lasercorn that satisfaction. 

The sky filled with thick, black clouds. No, not clouds.  _ Smoke.  _ "Oh yes, I remember," Lasercorn said, the flames that now sprouted around him casting his face in orange light. "You let him die in a fire, whilst you ran away and hid! How very heroic of you!"

A figure crawled across the floor in front of them, just a silhouette against the light of the fire, but instantly recognisable. "Oh look, there he is!" Lasercorn waved at Ra with a smile, as if nothing was happening.

Joven’s eyes stung, and tears ran down his cheeks.  _ Fucking smoke,  _ he thought, though he knew he was lying to himself. After all, the smoke wasn't even real, just a nightmare conjured up by Wes's toxin. “It was a mistake,” He said with clenched teeth. “A stupid mistake that I’ve never made since. And I never will.”

" _ Never? _ " He didn't look up, but Joven could feel Lasercorn's grin. It felt like it was physically burning into his skin. "I think we both know that's not true." Joven stayed silent, pressing his lips together in a thin line. "Don't tell me you've forgotten about Boze?" 

"Shut up," Joven growled. He hadn't forgotten about Boze, not even for a second. He just hoped that Lasercorn wouldn't notice how much she meant to him.  _ So much for that plan _ . "You're not even real. As soon as this gas goes, you'll be gone too."

Lasercorn wheezed with laughter, clutching his chest in an attempt to regain his composure. "Leave?" He sputtered. "Do you know how much toxin you've breathed in? I don't think I'm ever going to leave!" 

His laughter stopped abruptly, his face suddenly becoming completely serious. "Do you know what that means?" Joven shook his head, backing away from him until his back grazed a wall. 

Lasercorn reached inside his jacket, and pulled out a pistol. He moved slowly towards Joven, placing bullets in the chamber with a flair that would be impressive if it wasn't terrifying. With a flick of his wrist, the barrel of the gun was millimetres away from Joven's forehead.

_ "It's time for some fun!" _


End file.
